digital family summit: conference for tweens, teens, and parents (with full pass giveaway!)

I am totally over the moon about a family-friendly, tech-happy conference coming to the Keystone State.

It’s an event that is the first of its kind–new, exciting, and cutting edge. When I heard about it, I literally danced.

It’s the first-ever conference for tweens, teens, and parent bloggers, vloggers, writers, and online content creators, and I am thrilled to have been asked to be a media partner and speaker. And am I happy about the fact that it’s in Philadelphia, PA, only minutes away from where I grew up? Oh, yeah!

But I am even more excited that I have been asked to do a giveaway for family conference passes to the summit–an amazing prize that includes full conference passes for five family members, admission to all sessions and the welcome reception, six meals during the conference, and more.

The Summit is June 29th through July 1, right after school lets out so families have the whole summer to practice what they’ve learned.

So totally exciting, I know.

Here’s the skinny. . .

Digital Family Summit— Conference for tweens, teens, and parents: Though Maddy, Owen, and Cora are not ‘out there’ on the web, they are, I believe, tech-savvy kids.

Though they do not write their own blogs, upload vlogs to YouTube, or Skype on a daily basis, they are aware of the fact that I am a blogger and writer and that’s ‘just mom’s job’. For a long time, when I’d take the kids to blogger events, they thought that all the women present were ‘teachmamas’, that everyone had a blog called ‘teach mama’ and that everyone wrote a blog about fun learning with their kids.

Then when we launched the teachmama.com channel, they became even more interested in the social media space because, as they explained, their ‘mom was on tv’. (They didn’t realize that it was their mom who recorded it, their mom who uploaded it, and their mom who promoted it, but that’s fine, right?)

What Owen wants to be when he grows up. . . a blogger. Awwwwh.

Even though my children are on the younger end of the audience for whom the Digital Family Summit is directed, I am totally excited to take them to this event because I love that kids will learn and connect, be inspired, and get engaged in blogging, entrepreneurship and social media. I want them to more fully understand the space and to know the wide world of options, ideas, and adventure that lie ahead. I want them to know that there are a boatload of cool careers out there and that they are no longer boxed into the standards: doctor, lawyer, or teacher. So exciting.

The conference plans to have workshops on food blogging, travel blogging, video, photography, and gaming and animation that impart hands-on skills, and other sessions feature tween and teen bloggers and entrepreneurs as well as adults on topics including:

• The 21st Century Paper Route: How to Make Money From Your Blog or Videos

I will be speaking on the Parenting Digital Kids panel with Leticia Barr of Tech Savvy Mama, Sandie Angulo Chen of Urban Mama, and Grace Duffy of Formerly Gracie, which will be an hour-long session packed with information on safety, managing screen time, education and technology, digital etiquette, and more. I do hope to see you!

They’ve got a ton of sponsors lined up, including Microsoft, Scholastic and Ubisoft – they’re cooking up amazing activities and engagements for you and your kids.

Bring the whole family this June 29-July 1 in Philadelphia, PA, a fantastic family-friendly city, to grow together and have fun! Conference registration includes all meals, parties and snacks for everyone in your family.

Create a short (less than ONE minute!) vlog and upload it to YouTubewith a link to this post and a link to the teachmama.com YouTube Channel (teachmama1)–explaining why your family needs to attend the Digital Family Summit!

This giveaway ends Thursday, May 31, 2012 at midnight ET. Winner will be chosen by ‘And the Winner is. . .’ and will be notified on or around 5/31/12. Winner must respond within three (3) days of notification or forfeit the prize, in which case an alternate winner will be selected. All Official Sweepstakes Rules apply.

fyi: This is an unsponsored post, which I wrote as a media partner and conference speaker. I received conference passes for myself and my family because of the nature of my relationship with Digital Family Summit, but all other opinions are my own, influenced only by my three kiddos.

This would be a great way for me to attend my first conference – which I’ve avoided up to now because:
a. I don’t want to leave the family at home
b. I don’t have money to spend on conference tickets
c. It’s hard for me to get out of my comfort zone and try new things : )
Even better, it’s close to home so we could make a road trip out of it!!
Would love to have my hubby attend with me since he’s my official tech support guy.

We would love to attend as my 9 year-old-son is expressing interest in blogging and doing product reviews and I would absolutely love the opportunity to bring him to the conference to learn more about social media and to see all of the other kids out there that share his interest. What an awesome opportunity! Thanks for the chance!